Control device for duplicating machines



Dec. 12, 1944. o. E. ROSEN CONTROL DEVICE FOR DUPLICATING MACHINES Filed Dec. 14, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheetl PIC-3.4. Z

v INVENTOR mam 6. 1%);

ATTORNEYS:

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 12, 1944. o. E. ROSEN CONTROL DEVICE FOR DUPLICATING MACHINES Filed Dec. 14, 1938 JNVENTOR 0M 431m m %-4 A TTORNEYS FIG.2.

Dec. 12, 1944- o. E. ROSEN ,3

CONTROL DEVICE FOR DUPLICATING MACHINES Filed Dec. 14, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENIOR 04M (56am.

U ATTORNEY? Patented Dec. 12, 1944 CONTROL DEVICE FOR DUPLICATING MACHINES Oscar E. Rosen, Detroit, Mich.

Application December 14, 1938, Serial No. 245,710

Claims.

The present invention relates to control devices for duplicating machines of the type wherein a tracer in contact with a pattern is moved thereby and in being so moved causes variations in electric circuits which in turn control the action of the pattern reproducing machine.

As an example of a machine to which the present invention is applicable, reference may be made to my application, Serial No. 138,140, filed April 21, 1937, for Duplicating machines, (now Letters Patent No. 2,138,208, issued November 29, 1938) showing a milling machine in which the relative movement of the cutter and work toward and from each other is produced by an auxiliary unit which in turn is controlled by a tracer.

The auxiliary unit described in the said application comprises a reversible hydraulic motor coupled to a suitable feed on the milling machine and controlled by a suitable valve to rotate the feed in the desired direction, the valve being controlled by the tracer.

The tracer as described in that application was so constructed as to cause the movement of the valve from a neutral position to either of two positions and thereby to cause operation of the feed at a constant rate in one or the other of the two directions. v I

It should be understood that the milling machine mentioned is by way of example only as the unit is applicable to any form of cutting machine in which the work and cutter are to be moved relatively to andfrom each other while the machine itself or some other means causes ofthe cut, the valve being positioned at an intermediate position to determine the speed or the feed motor, and in additionthe tracer is so constructed that an abrupt rise on the pattern causes an additional circuit to be established to stop the progressive relative movement of the cutter and Work until the abrupt rise has been surmounted.

While these prior constructions are entirely suit: able for most purposes, it has been found that for certain kinds of work they' were insufllcient.

For example, while the control device of the-sec- 0nd mentioned application provided for abrupt rises or obstructions on the pattern it did not provide for abrupt descents. Further, with the use of an ordinary electric motor in the tracer, the rate of feed varied slightly at times.

The objects of the presentinvention, therefore, include a tracer control for duplicationgmachines constructed and arranged to produce uniform or uniformly increasing or decreasing rates of feed and thereby produce greatersmoothness of operation. A

Another object is a tracer control which acts to regulate the feed not only of the cutter rela tive to the work but also the progressive relative movement of the cutter past the Work.

Another object is a tracer control which will regulate the relative progression of the work and cutter in accordance with the angle of the cut.

Other objects will readily occur to those skilled in the art upon reference to the following description and the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a tracer involving the present invention.

Figure 2 is a partial vertical section on the line 2- -2 of Figure 3.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the same with the cover plate removed.

Figure 4 is a vertical section on line 4-4 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a section on line 55 of Figure 2.

Figure 6 is a central longitudinal sectional view of the feed drive shaft control.

Figure-7 is an elevation thereof from the right of Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a sectional view on Figure 6.

Figure 9 is a view similar to Figure 6 but of a modification.

line 88 of Figure 10 is a diagrammatic view showing the arm 22 mounted for limited universal movement in a threaded sleeve 23 fixed in the end of a tubular housing 24, the arm 22 being preferably provided with an enlargement 25 of spherical contour seated in a corresponding spherical seat insleeve 23. Further for-a purpose to 'bedes scribed later,-the enlargement or ball 25 is cut away underneath to provide a shoulder 25a and the seat counterbored as shown to receive a spring 25b acting between the shoulder 25a and the bottom of the counterbore.

It should be noted that the ball 25 is at such a location on arm ,22 that the lever arm above the ball is considerably longer than the arm below the ball, so that the movement of finger will result in a larger movement of the upper end 22a of the arm. At the upper end, the arm 22a is provided with a concave seat 26 in which is located a ball 21 upon which rests thereversely concave end of a short plunger 28, which is mounted in a suitable bearing in the upper end of the tubular housing 24.

50, in which are located the parts coacting with the tracer arm and plunger 28. The plunger 28 is pointed at its upper end, as at 28a, the point furnishing a pivot for a member 29 located bea The tubular housing 24 is secured to the lower side of a main housing 5|, 52, 53 and 54, each of which comprises a conducting bushing 55 extending to the inside of one of the bushings 45b and 46b and serving to fix these in place, each bushing 55 being insulated from the metal of the housing by an insulating sleeve 56 and each bushing 55 being adapted to receive a suitable plug 51 upon the end of a cable or other conductor, as indicated in Figure 10. v a

. As stated above, the housing 50 includes a removable cover 50a. In this 'cover is mounted the spring pressed plunger 40 which is of non-conducting material and carried in the cover in such manner as to permit a small amount of lateral movement. The plunger,'however, is seated in a screw plug 40a so that the tension of the spring 402), backing the plunger, may be adjusted; The

' cover 50a also carries a second spring backed end a roller 3|, mounted between, two spacers 32 I and 32a and has fixed to its-other end a spring arm '33, as by screw 34, which in turn carries a double contact 35. 1

The lever 30, further, is slotted, as at 36, for the reception of a pivot pin 31, the vertical walls ofthe slot being accurately parallel and bearing on the pin 31; while at that side of the slot toward the motor is formed a seat for the end of a spring plunger 40.

The lever 30, as stated above, is pivoted on a;

pin 31. This pin is shown as extending at each end into a fibre or other insulating block 31a 1 and may carry spacers 3'lbin order to accurately position the lever 30. The pin 31 may also be synchronous motor I40, having its drive shaft 4| extending into the casing in line with the plane of movement of lever and below the roller 3|. The shaft 4| has fixed thereto-a cami 42 upon which the roller acts, to provide forthe rapid oscillation of lever 30. For reasons which will be given later, the vcam '42 may be provided with one, two, four or even more lobes so that the number of oscillations will be increased. Operation of the motor will, as indicated, cause oscillation of the lever 30 and therebythe double contact 35. l

Contact 35 is located near one end of the housing 5llbetween two adjustable stationary con tacts 45 and 46 carried in respectively the lower and upper walls of the housing 50. These contacts45 and 4B are carried upon studs 45a and 45a. threaded into suitable bushings 45b and 46b fixed in, insulating sleeves 45c and 460 in turn fixed in the walls of housingf50.

The stud 45a may be fixed in adjusted position and locked by means of a lock'screw 45d while '-it is preferred to make the stud 46a sufficiently long to" extend to the outside of the housing 50 to permit attachment of an insulating kno'b46d by means of which it may be adjusted I plunger 60 which presses upon the spacer 32 on lever 30.

The combined action of plungers 40 and 60 insures the maintenance or contact betweenroller 3| and cam 42 while the-plunger 40 also serves to balance the up thrust of spring 25b in sleeve 23. j Y As stated above, operation of the motor I40 will produce oscillation of'lever '30 and the several parts should be so constructed and adjusted that when thetracer finger '25 is not in contact with anything this oscillationwill cause the'contact 35 to make substantially continuous contact with the stationary contact 45. 'Whe'n, however, the finger 20 contacts anything, such as a I pattern, any "resulting movement or displacement of the finger, whether sidew'ise or directly upward, will caus'e an upward movement of lever 30'un'til the contact '35 will touch neither of the stationary contacts 45 and 46. Further displacement, however, will cause the contact '35 'to make repeated contacts with stationary contact '45,

' until with extreme movement upward the contact is substantially continuous.

The tracer, so far described in its mechanical features, is provided with suitable conductors and with provision for asupply of alternating electric current ias'indicated in Figures 1, 2 and 4.

Suitable plug-in or other connections to a source of current are indicated in Figure 1 at 60 and 5]. From one of these, inside the housing 50, .a-suitable flexible conductor 62 leads to the leverarm 30 and conveniently connected thereto by the screw 34 which secures the spring arm33. Also from inlets '60 and 51., suitable connections, vindicated at 63 and 64, are -led to the motor I40, to provide for operating the latter.

From the plug-in connections 5i and 52, or alternately-53 and 54, suitable-leads extend to'the two solenoids controlling valve operation in the cutting machine operating unit as mentioned above and as described :in -co-pending application, Serial No. 138,140. Theseleads are indicated at 65 in Figure 10 and throughwthese-are made and broken the circuits thatcontrol the relative movement of-the cutter and work toward and from each other. V

The relative progressive movement of the cutter .past the-work, for ;example the progressive movement .of the work "tabla-is controlled by circuits made and broken through the same contacts and through connectors plugged into the connections 53 and 54, or alternately 5i and 52, which lead to the device illustrated in Figures 6 to *9. These leads or connectors are indicated" atGBinFigurelOV-J. I

Inthese figures (referring first'to Figures 61 08) there is shown a clutch mechanism that is conof a cutting machine, for example, a milling machine. The drive shaft, for example, 1 is the one that actuates the feed screw that causes the work table to move pastthe cutter or the cutter to move past the work as the case may be.

Such a shaft or suitable section thereof is shown at 18 and 18a, the driving means being connected to the part 18, the part 18a being connected to the said feed screw, and the clutch mechanism being interposed therebetween.

This clutch mechanism, as shown, comprises a bracket H which includes a platform 12 and an uprightlportion 13 for the support oftwo sole-- noids 14 and 15, one above the other. These solenoids are each provided with an armature, 14a and 15a, and the two armatures fixed together and held in position by a suitable spring 18 ad'- justably positioned by a thumb screw 11. Further,

the two armatures indicated as a whole at 18, are so positioned that energizing either solenoid will cause the two to move downwardly.

To the lower end of the armature couple is fixed oneend of a loop88 of flexible material, shown in the drawing as a piece of V-belt material, the other end of the loop being fixed as at 88a to the bracket1l This loop 88 passes around the clutch mechanism and coacts, as will be described, with a pulley track 8I thereon.

In the clutch mechanism, the shaft 18, after it passes through the bearing 85 which carries the bracket 1 I, is enlarged to provide a cup. The cup suitable stationary element III.

consists of the flange 88 having a ring 81 threaded thereon, the outer surface of ring 81 forming with the edge of flange 88 a cylindrical surface of considerable area. The cup is formed of the two parts to permit the insertion of the bearing 88.

The shaft 18a is likewise provided with a'cup portion by fixing thereto, as by welding, a sleeve 98 and to the sleeve a cup member 9 I, as by welding, of the same diameter as ring 81. Further, the sleeve is extended beyond the edge of cup member 9| to the inside of the cup 88--81 and be piloted therein in bearing 88. In assembling these parts, the bearing and ring 81 may be placed upon the end of sleeve 98 and fixed in place by a nut 95 and then the ring 81 screwed to flange 88.

The two cup parts upon the shafts when properly assembled present together a smooth cylindrical surface of which one portion is fixed to shaft 18 and the other to shaft 18a.

Around the so formed cylinder is a spiral clutch element 92 which extends, to the extreme edge of flange 88 and to near the far edge of cup member 9| where it abuts a ring 98 fixed to the latter, as by a set screw 91. This spiral92 is fixed to flange 88 by means of an embracing ring 98 through which and into the spiral passes a screw 99.

Overlying the spiral 92 and between rings 98 and 98 is a sleeve I88 and to this the free end of spiral 92 is fixed as by means of a pin I8 I.

Overlying sleeve I88 and between rings 98 and 98 is a second sleeve I85 upon the outer periphery of which is formed the pulley track 8| and between sleeves I88 and I85 are several bands or rings of preferably brass or bronze which will permit the two sleeves to move relatively but provide a small friction between the two so that, when the sleeve I85 is held against rotation, it will retard the movement of sleeve I 88. This in turn will, by retarding the end of spiral 92 being carried around by cup 88-81, cause it to wind tightly against ring 81 and cup 9| so that the two shaft parts 18 and 180: are coupled together.

leased for rotation by the loop 88 and thisactuated by the solenoids 14 and 15. a I

The bracket 1| is fixed against rotation with theclutch assembly by means of an arm I I8 fixed to a In Figure 9 is shown a form of the-clutch particularly adapted for use with a lathe. 5

In this form the power is applied by a gear (not shown) to the gear I18, This gear I18 is keyed to a sleeve I81 rotatably carried on a stud I89. I18 is outwardly flanged as at I88 to correspond to flange 88 in Figure 6. Rotatably mounted upon sleeve I81 is a second sleeve I9I to which is fixed a gear HM and this sleeve is of the same diameter as flange I88, forming therewith a two part cylinder as in the previous form. This cylinder is surroundedby the spiral spring I92 fixed at one of its ends to flange I88 asby a screw I99 and ring I98. The other end of spiral I92 is fixed as by pin 28I to an enclosing sleeve 288 which in turn is within a sleeve 235 provided with the track I8I for belt loop I88. 1

I The loop I88 is actuated in the same fashion as already described by solenoids I14 and I15 and, as stated,-when the loop is tightened, the drive upon the cutting machine in position to trace the profile of a pattern which is .being moved in apath having the same relation to the path of the work as'the relation of the position of the tracer tothe position of the cutter. Further the clutch C will be placed in a position intermediate the ends of a feed drive shaft D of a machine M.

With solenoid 15 connected to contact 48 and solenoid 14 connected tocontact' 45 and with the two contacts 45 and 48 also connected'to the valve controlling solenoids in the cutting ma-' chine control unit .of application, Serial No. 138,140, it will be seen that when the contact 35 in the tracer touches either contact 45 or 48 one of the solenoids 14 or 15 will be energized to cause the clutch C to disconnect the parts of the drive shaft D, and the more frequent and longer the contacts, the more continuous will be the declutching action. It should be noted that the spring 18supporting the armatures 14a'and 1511' should be of sufficient strength to maintain the' armatures up under conditions wherein either solenoid is, energized only substantially instantaneously. The inertia of the armatures and the connecting rod will of course aid this action. When, however, the tracer strikes an obstruction, for example a vertical wall, the continued contact of element 35 with the upper contact 48 will cause a continuous energization of one of the solenoids 14 or 15 and release the clutch while the machine operating unit moves the tracer and cutter vertically along the pattern and work,

Likewise, when the tracer drops from an edge the progressive action of work and pattern is halted until the tracer again strikes something.

Further, on quite steep sloping surfaces,the

As indicated above, the sleeve I is held or re- This sleeve I 81 atthe end opposite gear a sl w r progressi e acti n'due to c utch sli pa e.

:In the a ove escript on, mention is mad that:

the motor I40 is a synchronous. 21191 01., This is an impo a t development and insures the uniformity or action or the cuttin machine control unit.

When an rd n ry otor s used there may be no synchronism :between the mechanicali movement of the lever 30 and cycle/c the alternate current passing through contact 35 to thei Because. of. this ,fact i m y me i s happen that the current 1m? ua-l-ve actuating sol.enoids.

pulse :to a solenoid will be at a time when the current alternation is chan ing-.dsection, This;

oil-c r ul s in a yery mall aEfi-QGI on the valve.--On the other hand, the impulse m ght,

be given when the current is at its maxim-um and with a corresponding result. the ordi-, nary m tor this ,d fi ul-ty is extr mely diflicult I -However, the use-of a synchronous motor to,

not impossible to overcome,

actuate lever 31] enables one with-a'very simple adjustmen o el the portion of the current,

cycle which gives thebest results.

For example, using a motor running oscillations of lever '30 per minute. This with 60 cycle ,A. C. current means that the impulse :may

be taken at any part :of the cycle or at any part,

of ,a half cycle.

For example, as indicated on the sine curve, of Figure 11, by suitably shifting the cam '42, the

impulse maybe taken at E or I or at any time during the cyclethat is determined to be ,desi-r able, and all the impulses will be the same pro at 1800 R, P. .M. .a four lobed cam 42 will produce 7200 eating machines, a tracer finger, .apair oi electriccontacts, a contact carrying armiarrangedtocomfor causing said oscillatable contactto coact with one or the other of said pair of ccntemts.

:2. In a tracer for electrically controlled dupli:

plete a circuit through either of said pair and located between them, synchronous motor means .In using the 7-200 oscillation disposition, it is possible .to-obtain "twouniform impulses per cycle;-

for example, at E and Glor at Fand H; By :using a'two lobed cam 42, one impulse per cycle will be obtained, and this maybe at vanynf the points E to K or at any other point :desired. This selec-, tion is easily accomplished by making a. slight adjustment ofgthe radial position :of the claim 42 upon the shaft 4|. Now having described the inyention, it :is to'be understood that it is not to be limited tothe specific disclosure .herein but only by the scope of the claims which follow.

What I claim is: :1. In a tracer assembly for electrically controlled duplicator machinesja synchronous motor, a contact carrying element oscillatable by--s-a-id' motor, a pair or other contacts,-m'ea-ns for supplying alternating electric current to said motor and to the contact upon said oscillatable element,

a tracerfinger and means actuated'by said fmger means, .said make and break means comprising 3,111 electrically controlled. duplicating cuttin machines, a tracer unit including a tracer :finger,

for following the profile of-a suitable pattern,

electrically operated means forcontrolling the feed of said machineshsaid means being cone trolled by the movement of :said tracer finger by said pattern, said tracer unit including means for'rapidly and repeatedly making and breaking circuits .to said feed controlling means, means for supplying alternating electric current to said icincuits and to said circuit making and breaking means, and means for modifying the relative length of the circuit making and breaking periods;

said circuit'making and bre king means includin a synchronous motor.

4,. VA tracer assembly for electrically controlled duplicating machines, said assembly including a tracer finger ,displaceable with relation to said assembly and adapted to follow the profile .oi-a

pattern, means for establishing an alternating electric circuit throughsaid assembl tosaid-controlled machine, means in said assembly for repeatedly making and breaking .said circui sa d making and breaking means including a synchronous motor operable from said alternatin electric circuit, and means actuated byrsa-id finger for Varying the relativeiduration of th :make and break period ofithe thus produced intermittent circuit in'proportion to the displacement 0i sa d finger, said synchronous :motor insuring the produ tion of said :make p riods at h desired portion ofthecurrent cycle, 1 ?I 5. In combination withaxcuttin machine inudingtrac r controlled vrriean :f f din th cutter and work mla, i;ively-.i-,o and fromleach other means ,for'feeding the work and cutter nelati-yely past each other, a clutch for thelatter feeding means, and electric CQIItI'OlxIllefi-IIS ior said clutch, a tracer unit includingmeans :for makin and breaking circuits to the first-mentioned feeding, means and simultaneously to said-clutch control an oscillatable element in said tracer and c rrying a pair of contacts and motor means for oscillating said element.: 

